Emma's Blog

While conducting research for Melina and I's presentation on Harry Potter , I stumbled across a video on WitchTok about how a portrait of Anne Boleyn can be seen hanging in the hallway of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , the first book in the series. The TikTok user, historywithhenrietta, says that her portrait is included because she was accused of witchcraft and that is what led to her execution. My interest was peaked and I began research into why she was accused and if this was even true.  Anne Boleyn was born in Kent to one of the most powerful men in England, Sir Thomas Boleyn, and entered the Court of Queen Claude of France in 1515. At that time, it was well known that Anne's sister Mary was involved in an affair with King Henry VIII but that ended when Anne's quick wit, unusual beauty, and intelligence caught the attention of the King.  Anne was labeled a witch who seduced the King and was later executed on charges of adultery. Anne Boleyn  Like with the ...

After reading Colleen's blog post regarding allegations of witchcraft made against Taylor Swift, I dove into articles about more celebrities who have experienced similar allegations. Some names like Stevie Nicks were unsurprising, purely based on the kinds of music they create. Stevie Nicks sings songs about crystal visions and cats, typically while wearing black flowy clothing. One of Fleetwood Mac's most famous songs "Silver Springs" even features the lyric "Time cast a spell on you, but you won't forget me".  One case I did find surprising however was the criminal case brought against Beyoncé involving alleged witchcraft.  Kimberly Thompson, one of Beyoncé's former drummers, asked the courts for a restraining order against Beyoncé because she was involved in "dark magic" and "magic spells of sexual molestation". While the specific type of witchcraft is never mentioned, Thompson accused Beyoncé of using witchcraft to control her...

This week, I took a different approach from my previous blog post. I visited the TCU library's juvenile section to explore the witchy books they had on their shelves. To my surprise, I found 143 children's books that dealt with witches, which seemed like a lot for our small children's department. After browsing a few pages of results, I settled on checking out a book called "Excuse me... Are you a Witch?" "Excuse me... Are you a Witch?" is a story about a black cat named Herbert who is lonely and has very few friends. One day, while at the public library, Herbert finds an "Encyclopedia of Witches" and learns that witches love to have black cats as pets.  He then sets out to find a witch. However, when he asks people in town if they are witches, they react negatively. The townspeople either run away because they believe black cats bring bad luck, laugh at him, or scold him for being rude for wrongly assuming they were witches.  Eventually, Herbe...